We Happy Few: Adventures in Early Access — Pt. 2

It’s nearing the end of We Happy Few’s first month since its early access release and there have since been a few updates. I’ve been playing through the earlier iteration before restarting to better track the changes. Also because the “Everybody Must Get Stoned”objective is not in the way Bob Dylan intended.

After dying I got sent to the start like the world’s most depressing game of Chutes & Ladders. I think the game was tired of me living in the past and reset me because I will play the updates and like them, dammit! First off, they not only nixed Ms. Stokes’ body dump objective (which I was unable to do anyway), they walled up her side of the bunker!

Ms. Stokes’ is currently taking Dylan at his word…

So I take it this is the extreme example of the sheet down the middle of the room that siblings seem do in 80s movies? She was a horrid bunkermate anyway. Never paid rent on time. Just hanging herself and dying.

Another thing I noticed straight off is the constant looping of Crazy Legs’ white rabbit babble when he was nowhere nearby. Sometimes the dialog would show up with no accompanying sound.

When the bugs get fixed…maybe

However there was the additions of the Garden District—which had army rations, not a fresh vegetable in sight, and a mannequin torso that has was eyeing those working limbs of mine—

Mannequin 3: The After Hours

a bridge now controlled by a “Bobby” who demands to know who won Simon Says last night,

Talk to him now or later…in your nightmares…

and the tree house of Johnny Bolton, Secret Agent with foolproof plans.

Hat AND a mustache!? GENIUS!

So foolproof that you, the player has to go get Peachy, a very ugly doll, from the Avon Theatre. The first time I played Johnny didn’t even want his ugly doll back. Jerk.

A new update downloaded and I decided to replay from the prologue to catch anything I missed.

AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!

Looks like you’ve had too much TO THINK!

Back in the land of Wastrels, the landscape has changed. The Bobby-guarded bridge to civilization is off on a long lunch and I’ve encountered The Cult of Jack which is overall welcoming and not rape-y at all.

Do…do you have any Thin Mints?

This is disgusting! Bed at 6!?

It’s tricky putting out a product for early access for everyone to crap all over. The big developers will put out sequels to their tried and true games and laugh all the way to the bank regardless of reception while the indy developers put everything of themselves into a unique project while holding down day jobs and putting out a game early just to make ends meet. There are going to be people who only want a finished product. If that is you, knock yourself out! The gaming demographic stretches far and wide and shifts around at a whim. What works for one person won’t necessarily work for another.

I, however, am intrigued to see this part of the development process on a game with a rich backstory rooted in dystopian literature and movies. This experience is like pulling back the curtain on The Great and Powerful Oz before Toto bites the sourpuss neighbor back in Kansas. Will I always go for early access? Who knows? Depends on the game? There is no definite answer for me. For now I’m reserving final judgement on an unfinished piece, but I’m still going to have a laugh as I go along. Cause why not?